the audience applauded

People are voting emotionally.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

An impressive amount of talent was involved in this low budget film: Nunnally Johnson & John O'Hara, screenplay; Salvador Dali, nightmare sequence; Fritz Lang & Archie Mayo, direction; and a cast that included Jean Gabin, Ida Lupino, Thomas Mitchell, Claude Rains, Jerome Cowan, Sen Yung, and Tully Marshall. The end result doesn't quite rise to the level of "masterpiece," but it's far from your typical Hollywood fare. It's got a European feel and sensibility to it, and mature themes, characterizations, and pacing. It's only missteps are in soft pedaling the seamier elements in an attempt to placate the censors. Savvy viewers can read between the lines enough to see that Ms. Lupino's character had worked as a prostitute and that Mr. Mitchell had a homosexual attraction to Jean Gabin. Unfortunately, the ending feels too compromised to be satisfying. I'm guessing that in the original story, it ended in rape and murder. The acting is first rate with Rains and Mitchell cast against type, but it's Gabin and Lupino who really shine. I haven't seen many films by Archie Mayo, but those that I have show him to have been a talented director. His Svengali seems more like it came from UFA than from Hollywood. With a stronger ending and a bigger budget this might well have been one of the greats.

Rather routine story of a dock worker who finds love with a hash slinger. The dull, somber mood is reflective of the period shown here.Ida Lupino is excellent, as usual, because she plays the role that she was so well suited to play in films- the unhappy, vulnerable woman, who finds love and then tragedy.As the heavy, Thomas Mitchell shows some fine acting but he is not acting exactly like his drunken doctor in "Stagecoach" or Gerald O'Hara in "Gone With the Wind."As the man of the docks, Jean Gabin is appealing in the romantic lead. Problem with this film is that it's so obvious. Jerome Cowan is the unfaithful doctor who realizes his shortcomings and helps Lupino survive.

Director Fritz Lang was replaced by Archie Mayo as director of the 1942 "Moontide," and one wonders if the film would have been any better with Lang at the helm. With a script by John O'Hara, it's all dry ice, cheap sets, night shots and little action. The great French film star, perhaps the greatest, Jean Gabin, plays Bobo, a dockworker who enjoys being a free spirit. He suffers from blackouts when he's drunk, which is used to advantage by a so-called friend of his, Tiny (Thomas Mitchell), who gets money out of Bobo by hinting that he strangled a man in another town. When a waitress (Ida Lupiho) is rescued from the ocean after trying to commit suicide, Bobo covers for her so she won't be arrested. Eventually they fall in love. This doesn't fit in with the threatening Tiny's plans, as he wants Bobo to seek work elsewhere.The movie drags along, and it's easy to see the cheapness of the production throughout. It has a certain atmosphere, but it grows tired.It's a shame that Hollywood had no clue what to do with Jean Gabin, but seeing "Moontide," it's easy to figure out why. With his thick build, weathered face, unruly hair and large nose, he wasn't the leading man material Hollywood was used to, and he was too much a star to be a character actor. Few actors possessed his raw sexuality and charisma, seen much more clearly in Pepe LeMoko and as his signature role, Maigret. It's not for nothing that Marlene Dietrich chased him all across Europe during World War II. He only stayed in Hollywood until 1943 and worked in France as a national institution until his death in 1976. Lupino is very young, frail and pretty here and does a good job. Claude Rains as Nutsy, Bobo's friend, is good but wasted. Thomas Mitchell has the best role among the supporting players. It's a departure from his usual thick nice guys.If you're interested in Gabin, you'll want to see this. Otherwise, skip it.

After a three-year gap ,this was Gabin's return.It is hard to gauge it accurately cause in the 1937-1939 years ,an era when French cinema was arguably the best in the world ,he starred in at least five masterpieces ("la Grande Illusion" and "la Bête Humaine" by Jean Renoir,"Quai des Brumes" and (my favorite) "Le Jour se lève " by Marcel Carné ,and finally Jean Gremillon's "remorques") .All that he would do afterward would necessarily be a let-down."Moontide" is not in the same league as his previous French performances but it is nevertheless an interesting work for any Gabin fan.The actor integrates well in an American cast (and the cast includes earnest thespians such as Ida Lupino,Claude Rains and Thomas Mitchell)and his English is quite good (don't forget that Gabin was essentially an autodidact ,which is much to his credit;His contemporary equivalent for that matter is Gerard Depardieu) The screenplay may not be very exciting -and it's full of holes at that- but the atmosphere -which recalls sometimes "quai des brumes" - and Gabin's character -who,like Lantier in "la Bete Humaine" ,has an ominous past:wasn't his father a criminal brute?- are all that matters .For his second (and last) American movie,Gabin was directed by his compatriot (who put him on the map with "la Bandera" ) Julien Duvivier .